Ok, everybody. This post is for those of you who don’t want to buy iPhone ringtones in AppStore. The cheapest way to get a ringtone is to make it by ourselves. Here is a step-by-step instruction how to make and install an iPhone ringtone from an mp3-file.

First of all you should have an mp3-file which is the best ringtone ever. Keep in mind that your ringtone’s length should be 30 seconds or less. It’s important. If you need to cut some part of the mp3-file, you can use simple Web 2.0 utility on CutMP3.net

Open iTunes and drag-n-drop the mp3 file from Explorer/Finder/etc to the iTunes Library. It will appear in the Music list.

Now let’s go to the iTunes Preferences -> General and click on Import Settings button. This will open a dialog.

In the dialog set Import Using as AAC Encoder and click OK and click OK again on the Preferences dialog.

We’re very close to the finish now. Go to Music and select the mp3-file you added on step 2. In the context menu select Create AAC Version

Select just created file and select Get info from context menu. You will see a dialog. Look at Summary tab and you will find where the converted file is located.

Go to the file and change its extension from m4a to m4r.

Drag-n-drop the m4r file to iTunes as we already did on step 2 and you’ll notice that you have it in Tones section.

Connect your iPhone to iTunes and drag-n-drop the ringtone from the Tones section to the iPhone section. That’s all!